Marie Legault remembers having a “terrible time” a few years ago when she was teaching in the school of business at Sheridan College in Ontario.

She was at a loss with a new generation of students – the cohort known by a number of labels including Generation Next and the Millennials.

“I didn’t know how to handle them,” admits Legault, who was teaching part-time at the Toronto-area college and is the founder of Legault and Associates, a Burlington, Ont., leadership development firm.

“My biggest fear, being a consultant, was thinking about what we were going to do when we got them into the workplace.”

Photo courtesy of Legault and Associates
Marie Legault says companies must understand the diversity between generational groups or they could be in trouble.

What she experienced with this group – she calls them the ‘Nexters’ – were young men and women whose lives had been micro-managed by parents and educators.

In their home lives, parents scheduled piano, hockey, soccer and ballet – 24/7. In the school system, the students never knew failure, always being pushed to the next grade whether or not they were ready for the instruction.

“What I experienced was that they wanted constructive feedback, but if they got a failing mark, they did not appreciate it. They didn’t swallow it very well. I even had parents coming to me saying that I couldn’t fail their child.”

For Legault, and many others, it led to the question: What kind of workers will the ‘Nexters’ be and how will they integrate into the workplace?

It’s what pushed Legault to pursue her master’s degree in leadership and training at Victoria’s Royal Roads University, which she completed in 2002.

Her research examined the four generations of workers in today’s workplace: The Veterans (born between 1922-1943); the Boomers (1944-1960); the Xers (1961-1980); and the ‘Nexters’ (1981-2000).

I found her work intriguing, especially about the ‘Nexters.’ I, too, teach part-time at a local college and identified with her observations. It’s also important to note that there are many talented young people ready to bring lots to the workplace.

The ‘Nexters’ make up only about seven per cent of the Canadian workforce (Statistics Canada 2002). But they will soon become the largest group of workers in the country.

“It is estimated that there will be as many or even more ‘Nexters’ than there were Boomers,” Legault says.

She calls the ‘Nexters’ a “work in progress.” While the defining moments of this generation have not yet been identified, the following phenomena symbolize their era: A child-focused society, busy and over-planned lives, technology, the Internet, school violence and terrorism.

As they enter the workforce in greater numbers, employers will discover a technically savvy group that needs structure, guidance and much hand-holding.

Other points were worth noting: Many ‘Nexters’ lack some basic interpersonal skills; think they know everything; don’t necessarily want to be leaders; but do expect promotions every six months, and think they should be the company president in five years.

This group’s make-up is also considerably different than its workplace predecessor, the Xers, who in turn are much different than the Boomers.

Legault says that without understanding the diversity of these groups and developing programs to embrace each individual group, companies may soon find themselves in trouble.

“Most companies are still led by the Veterans and Boomers,” she says.

“They create programs based on what they think would be a great thing to have. But that’s their perspective, not the perspective of the new employees coming in.”

Xers and Nexters, for example, are oriented to their careers and want a clear map of where they are going within an organization, she says. They also want to develop a variety of skills.

“A company needs to develop a task diversity for them to do that. If Xers and Nexters are in the same team for (more than) two years, they don’t have a challenge any more. They want challenge. It’s how they build self-esteem and how they contribute to making a difference.”

At the same time, communication is a key for these groups. Yet their bosses, typically the Boomers, aren’t good at giving feedback.

“Boomers give generic feedback. But the Xers say: ‘Tell me like it is. Give me feedback that I can understand because if you say everything is rosy, how am I going to grow?’ ” Raised in the shadow of the Boomers, Xers tend to be skeptical, needing flexibility and autonomy to carry out their work. The prevailing attitude is that work is “just a job” – they experienced many broken promises after the economic downturn of 2001 – and they’re unlikely to change, Legault says.

As leaders, Xers are fair and straightforward. They also tend to be direct and may lack tact and diplomacy.

Since Xers are likely to be front-line supervisors for the Nexters, they have to understand this group’s needs.

Nexters, as Legault discovered while teaching in college, need to be handled with kid gloves. They require clear direction and when the going gets tough, they don’t always suck it up.

“There’s quite a gap in how these two generations see the world,” Legault says. “They tend to truly clash with each other. So it will be a challenge, because these two generations will be working together.”

While corporations are aware of the growing generational differences, few are doing much to address the issues, Legault says.

Her advice to the corporate community is that leaders must create an environment where people understand and respect each other’s differences. While it seems an obvious statement, she says it isn’t happening.

As an executive coach, she recalls sitting at the table with all four generations of workers and watching their differences play out. In one recent instance, while accompanying a client to such a meeting, she watched as her client, an Xer, rolled his eyes as a new employee discussed a potential strategy.

“My coachee is a very bright man . . . when the meeting was over I talked to him about how the other employee, who was new to the company, might feel. Would that new employee even want to contribute to the next meeting, or would he wonder if he should even stay with the company?”

Legault sees a pressing need for mentorship programs because both Xers and Nexters need to understand the corporate culture.

“I see a lot of these programs being set up and it’s very powerful with Xers and Nexters because they have a career mindset,” she says.

It’s also crucial, because not that far down the road, they will be the dominant force in the workplace.

WORKFORCE STATISTICS
A demographic breakdown of Canadian workers:
* The Veterans (born between 1922-1943): Make up 10 per cent of the workforce.
– Core Values: Dedication and sacrifice, hard work, conformity, law and order, respect for authority, patience, delayed reward, duty before pleasure, adherence to rules and honour.

* The Boomers (1944-1960): The largest population of workers, accounting for 51 per cent of the labour pool.
– Core Values: Optimism, teamwork, personal gratification, health and wellness, personal growth, youth, work and involvement.

* The Xers (1961-1980): Make up 32 per cent of the workforce and are fully deployed.
– Core Values: Value diversity, global thinking, balance, informality, fun, techno-literacy, pragmatism and self-reliance.

* The Nexters (1981-2000): Make up about seven per cent of the workforce.
– Core Values: Self-confidence, achievement, sociability, a strong moral sense, diversity and street smart. They accept authority and follow rules.

Source: Legault & Associates/Statistics Canada, 2002

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